Cambodia Doesn’t Have a Problem

Cambodia Doesn’t Have a Problem with Its Muslims, Unlike Other Countries

Cham Muslims and Buddhist Khmers craft a new life in Cambodia

BY SLES NAZY

An interfaith meeting bring together Cham Muslims and Buddhists

Cambodia is home to about 700,000 Cham Muslims, about 5% of the country’s population. This minority is composed of three major groups: Chams (the descendants of Champa, conquered and integrated into southern Vietnam centuries ago), Malays (Chvea), and Cham Jahed (those who belong to the Imam San community, which is well-known for preserving Cham customs and traditions).

Even though the Kingdom of Cambodia espouses Buddhism as its official religion, the Muslim minority enjoys full rights. They live in peace and harmony, which is, unfortunately, not the case in such Buddhistmajority countries as Myanmar, Thailand and Sri Lanka.

Ysa Osman, an independent Cham researcher at the Documentation Center of Cambodia (dccam.org/home) and author, told a local news agency that their community’s relations with Buddhist Cambodians are particularly friendly and warm.

Osman is the author of three books about the Cham: “Cham Muslim and Khmer Buddhist Intermarriage” (2010), “The Cham Rebellion: Survivors’ Stories from the Villages” (2006) and “Oukoubah: Justice for the Cham Muslims under the Democratic Kampuchea Regime” (2002).

“Cham people don’t normally have extreme ideas,” Ysa said. "The Cham and the Khmer have a common culture — before and after the Khmer Rouge period — and live together peacefully. In some villages, Cham women wear the veil, and in others they dress the same as Khmer girls. Some Cham men go to entertain during Khmer New Year, so we have a lot of exchange of culture between the Cham and Khmer.”

According to his findings, Cham Muslims invite their Buddhist neighbors and friends to their weddings and are invited to Buddhist weddings.

If we look at history, the Cham have coexisted with the Buddhist majority and others, despite some misconceptions, such as ethnic jokes, negative perceptions and the belief that the Cham practice black magic.

In his book “Cambodia: 1975-1982," Michael Vickery states, “Much more important in prewar Cambodian society than Christians were the Chams, who were both a minority ethnic group and followers of another ‘foreign’ religion, Islam. They … were accepted as Cambodians, if not really Khmer; their religion, albeit viewed as very strange, was somehow more indigenous than Christianity and not linked to the European colonialists or to any other threatening foreign source” (p.181).

As Ben Kiernan writes in his “The Pol Pot Regime” (1996), "[Marcel] Ner [b.1888] considered Khmer-Cham relations in general ‘a happy symbiosis’: ‘The Khmers get on well with them. They feel that they have brought an element of activity that the country needs, and I have never heard expression of the fears or irritation that they often display about other ethnic groups” (p.256).

The Khmer Rouge’s Democratic Kampuchea (1975-79) was an exception to this historical reality. During their reign, between 100,000 and 500,000 Cham Muslims were murdered or died due to starvation, illness and other man-made causes. According to Osman, Democratic Kampuchea’s constitution proclaimed, “Every one of the

people has the right to believe in faith or religion … [But] reactionary religions that damage Democratic Kampuchea and the Kampuchean people are absolutely forbidden” (“Oukabah,” p.95). As all religions were “reactionary,” Islam’s religious duties were prohibited, haram activities were forced upon them, and children were separated from their families and indoctrinated.

In recent years, misperceptions about the Cham have been intensified by events such as terrorist attacks and the revival of “radical” Islam. Senior Islamic figure Harkum trafficking and other activities. Buddhist monks were also invited to attend interfaith programs held in mosques.

The reporter quoted Othman Hassan, senior minister in-charge of special missions, who said that while Cambodia is a Buddhistmajority country, it has made substantial efforts to provide equal opportunities for its Muslim citizens. The government has enacted a legal provision requiring prayer halls in all public hospitals, and Muslimas are free to wear hijabs at school. He also noted that Muslims are widely represented

IN RECENT YEARS, MISPERCEPTIONS ABOUT THE CHAM HAVE BEEN INTENSIFIED BY EVENTS SUCH AS TERRORIST ATTACKS AND THE REVIVAL OF “RADICAL” ISLAM. SENIOR ISLAMIC FIGURE HARKUM SALEH DEPLORES SUCH LINKAGES, SAYING “DON’T COMPARE US WITH MUSLIMS IN EUROPE OR THE MIDDLE EAST WHERE THERE HAVE BEEN MANY PROBLEMS. … WE ARE PEACEFUL. WE ARE NOT INVOLVED IN JIHAD EVEN IF OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD ARE.”

Saleh deplores such linkages, saying “Don’t compare us with Muslims in Europe or the Middle East where there have been many problems. … We are peaceful. We are not involved in jihad even if other parts of the world are.”

Cham Muslim bodies, such as the current Grand Mufti Haji Kammarudin Yousuf, foreign and local Muslim NGOs and grassroots activists have been working hard to prevent ethnic and/or religious violence and to enhance harmony and maintain good relationships between Muslims and non-Muslims. They are doing their best to present accurate information about Cham Muslims and Islam, offer interpretations of Islam through private media (i.e., such as radio programs, publications and social media) and support interfaith dialogue at all levels of society.

To promote mutual understanding, Muslim scholars are being invited to speak and participate in some interfaith activities, dialogues and seminars. Cham Muslims are also invited to join in such interfaith campaign as environmental, anti-human in the political sphere, with two senators, six members of Parliament, 11 deputy ministers and 21 undersecretaries of state.

This increased Muslim representation helps secure the peace and protects the community from marginalization. Most of Cham representatives come from constituencies with large Cham Muslim populations. They speak on behalf of their constituents’ issues related to community and religious affairs.

However, success in this effort greatly depends on the leaders’ commitment to helping the community. Muslim institutions, both private and public, are also working to maintain a relationship with the government and to gain the trust of their non-Muslim counterparts so that they can continue to enjoy the freedom of religion. This good relationship partly contributes to religious tolerance and acceptance of Muslims.

Prime Minister Hun Sen, who grew up with Chams living nearby, has asked the “international media to be prudent in placing the blame for terrorist attacks on the Muslim community.” Moreover, he has called upon people and the media not to use the phrase “Islamic extremism” on the grounds that there can be extremists in any religion. Every year he issues a public statement wishing all Muslim communities a happy Ramadan and attends an iftar and sends his best wishes on the Eid Day.

Recently, when the government implemented stricter health measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19, the Ministry of Health had separated Muslim Cambodians from other Cambodian citizens — into their own “Khmer Islam” category — in official government statistics on infections. After receiving some criticism for doing so, the government began issuing official infection counts with a single “Khmer” category for all citizens. Unlike other Buddhist-majority countries, Cambodia has implemented a nationwide policy that allows Muslim who have died during the pandemic to be buried according to Islamic customs, but in a separate area of the cemetery. The government allocated the new land in each province.

Anthropologist Alberto Perez-Pereiro notes that “Government encouragement, the weeding out of militants like [the Indonesian-born] Hambali [official name: Riduan bin Isomuddin], and sharper checks on funding have improved life for the Chams who, as citizens, enjoy all the same benefits as other Cambodians — a very different situation to Muslims in Thailand and Myanmar. Chams are famed for their hard work ethic — which is helped along by an abstinence from alcohol — and making the most of dramatically improved opportunities through education.”

Ly Mohammed, a religious teacher at the Kilometre Nine Mosque, states that, “There are some religious rules that we need to follow and we do not accuse others of being bad just for eating pork or drinking alcohol. Before, we would not even wear a traditional skull cap in a photo for a passport or an ID card, but now as Cambodians we are free to practice any religion we want. The future is bright” (https://www.ucanews.com/news/ cultivating-cambodias-chams-with-religious-freedom/78693#).

In a recent meeting with Othman Hassan in Jeddah, Yousef Al-Othaimeen (secretary-general, Organization of Islamic Cooperation), praised Cambodia for encouraging positive relations between religious communities and for being a role model for other countries in the region. ih